Continuing improvements in health care, lifestyles, and public and occupational safety are increasing the longevity of individuals. These factors, plus the advancing age of the "baby boom" generation, are combining to create a rapidly growing aged population with attendant massive increases in the health care needs of that population. A proportionate share of the resulting health care needs are those of persons who, for various reasons, require physical assistance in moving.
Any person, and especially an aged one, who requires physical assistance to move presents a difficult problem for caregivers. A bedridden patient may need to be turned frequently or shifted in bed. Regular assistance in moving from the bed to a chair may also be required, as well as assistance in standing and walking, and helping the patient in the use of a bathroom commode. The skin of an aged person can be very fragile and tender, and easily subject to superficial trauma such as bruising. Discomfort and trauma may result not only from the physical contact required for a caregiver to assist an invalid in moving, but additionally from the localized pressure on the invalid's body where there is contact with structural features of conventional implements or garments intended to facilitate the moving chore. Bed sores may result if a bedridden patient is not turned often enough due to the difficulty of the chore. Without proper assistance, injuries from falls, bone fractures for example, will occur more frequently. An aged invalid may often be so completely unable to self-motivate that moving them is essentially a chore of moving a mass of dead weight that is simultaneously limp, bulky and fragile.
Caregivers also risk physical injury in performing the lifting required to assist invalids. The invalid may be limp and unresponsive, or agitated and uncooperative, or merely independent enough that the invalid and the caregiver are working at cross purposes. Any of these factors, and others, can complicate the caregiver's chore and increase the risk of injury.
Of course, those requiring physical assistance in moving are not limited to the aged. Invalids are found in every population age group. Moreover, those filling the role of caregiver are not limited to nursing home staff. In the home care environment, the primary caregiver may often be a family member who is not well trained or experienced in techniques for physically assisting an invalid.
For these among many other reasons, various devices have been proposed to provide improved ease, safety and comfort for both patient and caregiver in performing necessary patient moving chores. For example, the following patents disclose a variety of such devices: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,449,253, 5,647,378, 5,361,418, 5,369,804, 5,542,123, 5,514,019, 5,546,602, and 3,562,812.